We’re hiring a basemap creator in Berlin

Edit January 23, 2018: We got a lot of applications – thank you so much to everyone who’s interested in that job! To be fair to everyone, we’re closing applications this Friday night, the 26th of January. We won’t consider applications that come in afterward. Thanks for your understanding, and again, thanks for your interest!

Hello! Do you like maps? Do you want to work with David, Mirko, Gregor, Ivan and me, Lisa, to make Datawrapper more helpful for its users? We’re looking for someone who extends and updates our collection of basemaps. You can find our current collection if you go to Datawrapper.de and then click on “Create a map”. Basemaps like these ones for NYC:

What you’ll be doing:

Your day-to-day job will be to find mostly administrative maps online, adapt them to the needs of the Datawrapper tool and implement them. But you will spend a lot of time fixing errors in the maps you want to implement: The projection is weird, the IDs are weird, etc. There’s always some weirdness that is waiting to be solved.

Often, our users have requests for specific maps. You will communicate with them if questions arise (only via email if you prefer. They’re nice.) and you will let them know once the new maps are implemented. These maps will be made available for every Datawrapper user immediately.

If you want to, you can be responsible for everything map-related at Datawrapper. It will be your baby. You think we should implement a specific set of maps? Or that we should redesign the whole map editor? Neat! Do it if you have the skills; ask us if you don’t. We’re a small team, so if you want to have a lot of responsibility, this is the right place for you.

Who are we looking for:

A map lover with patience and attention to detail.

Someone who has experience with building maps on a computer. You’ve used QGIS before? Great! The stuff in the following screenshot from Mapshaper doesn’t make you sweat? Even better! In the best case, you’ve even written a script before.

A journalistic, curious mind. That doesn’t mean that you have to be a journalist. But we want our mapping tool to have the most useful maps possible. It helps if you can ask: “What would a journalist need?”

What we can offer:

A big desk in an office in Berlin Wedding, where four of us work (Ivan, Lisa, Gregor & David). We have a massive library of data vis books, a coffee machine, tea en masse & interesting conversations about mapping, data vis and UX. Also, we love lunch breaks.

Flexible working hours. Do you want to work just three days a week? Or just in the afternoons? Or only on dates that are prime numbers? We’re ok with that.

A question-happy, communication-happy atmosphere. We’re all learning, and we want you to learn with us. If someone has an idea or a problem, we just talk. No meetings, a bit of Slack, lots of fun.

Oh, and you’ll get money for doing this job.

We want you to apply especially if you’re from an underrepresented group. (That includes women.) Also: We don’t care about CVs, just skills and attitude. If you don’t find yourself 100% in the description, write me an email anyway. Talk a bit about you and how your skills & experience could be a good fit for this job, and ask me aaaaall your questions:

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